Syllabus

Science Prerequisites for Health Professionals

PHYS 1010: Physics I – Fall 2024

Credits - 4

Description

This is a one-semester course, with a laboratory, designed for individuals with a baccalaureate degree who need first semester physics as a prerequisite to apply for admission to health professions’ programs. These may include graduate programs in medicine, veterinary medicine, dental medicine, nursing, physical therapy and physician assistant.

Materials

Learning Objectives and Outcomes

Program Outcomes

In lecture courses, students should be able to:

1. Communicate scientific concepts and information clearly.
2. Illustrate fundamental laws, theories, and principles of scientific disciplines.
3. Apply knowledge and critical thinking skills to scientific problems.

In lab courses, students should be able to:

1. Ask a question or define a problem that can be tested.
2. Hypothesize possible result(s).
3. Plan and/or conduct an investigation individually and/or collaboratively to produce data to serve as the basis for evidence.
4. Analyze data using tools, technologies, and/or models (i.e. computational, mathematical, graphical, etc.) in order to make valid and reliable scientific claims or determine an optimal design solution.
5. Communicate the results by constructing an explanation based on multiple pieces of valid and reliable evidence obtained from a variety of sources (including students’ own investigations, models, theories, simulations, peer review) and the assumption that theories and laws that describe the natural world operate today as they did in the past and will continue to do so in the future.
6. Apply scientific ideas, principles, and/or evidence gained from various experiments, as well as other observations and/or research, to provide an explanation of phenomena and solve design problems, taking into account possible unanticipated effects.

Course Outcomes

The objectives of this course are designed to facilitate your construction of conceptual models to describe physical ideas that are the foundation of sciences that you may encounter in your professional studies.

By the end of the course, you will be able to:

• Demonstrate an understanding of the fundamental principles of the scientific method, as well as fundamental laws, theories, and principles related to physics.
• Apply knowledge and critical thinking skills to relevant physics problems.
• Plan and conduct laboratory investigations to predict relationships between key variables in physics problems.  Analyze independently collected data using tools, technologies, and models to make valid and reliable scientific claims. 
• Apply ideas, principles, and/or evidence gained from various experiments, as well as other observations, to provide a physical explanation of everyday phenomena and solve problems, taking into account possible unanticipated effects.
• Communicate results of lab experiments and independent work through multiple representations.

SELF PACED DESIGN

On the course start date, students will have access to orientation. This must be completed to be able to gain access to the first module in the course. Students must complete the first module to gain access to the next one. We recommend that students spend about 15 hours per week to complete a course in 16 weeks. When trying to complete the course in less than 16 weeks, we typically see students do this successfully within 12-14 weeks. Instructors will be timely in grading and feedback, but it will not be instant.

Assignments

Lectures and Laboratories

Course Details

Physics I is divided up into 16 weeks that follow the first 12 chapters of the textbook. Each week contains a reading assignment, video lectures, homework assignment, and lecture quiz. Each week will also contain a laboratory assignment, lab report, and each unit one or more discussion boards.  

TED-Ed Lecture Videos

All lecture videos feature optional quiz questions that students can use to check their understanding. The questions do not count towards final grades. To access this optional content, please register for a free TED-Ed account here.

Deliberate Practice Problems

This course also provides many practice problems with solutions for you to use to enhance your ability to solve physics problems. These problems are from your supplementary text, Schaum’s Outline, and have full solutions. To get the most out of these practice problems, watch the “About Deliberate Practice” video tutorial in the Unit 1, Week 1 section of your course before attempting these problems.

Assigned Homework Problems and Lecture Quizzes

Successful comprehension of physics concepts requires practice, diligence, and motivation.  You should spend several hours per section on homework and independent of laboratory time. Assignments can be found through Brightspace. They consist of homework with solutions to check your work once the homework has been reviewed by your instructor, and lecture quizzes. Homework must be handwritten. Please upload pictures or scanned copies of your homework for grading.

Laboratory Assignments

A significant amount of time is dedicated to at-home hands-on laboratory experiments.  We will make use of the IOLab Wireless Lab System along with accompanying laboratory instructions to collect data, analyze data on your home computer, and share results and interpretation with the instructor and other students.  Labs will focus on discovering relationships between variables involved in our fundamental models of physics.  Laboratory instructions and experiment submission forms are provided for each lab and are organized by course week/topic.  

Your lab assignment sheets will ask for a photo of your setup. Always include a photo of the experimental setup, NOT just one of the iOLab device sitting on a table in front of your laptop, or of the materials used. Also include a picture showing some action, such as yourself measuring something, of the device sliding down a ramp, etc.

Discussion Board Posts

Discussion questions cover interesting current events or materials that contribute to a deeper understanding of key concepts and allow you to interact with your classmates and the instructor. There are a total of six required discussion questions throughout the quarter that will count towards your discussion grade for the unit. Each question will require you to conduct at-home lab work, read additional materials (a short journal or magazine article), visit a specific webpage, and/or view a short video. Then you will write a response following the guidelines in the assignment.

To earn full credit: you will need to post a response, respond to the original posts of at least two other students, and then contribute to an ongoing discussion. For special cases where one or two students are accelerating faster through the course, the instructor will participate in the discussion so that everyone has the opportunity to interact.

Discussion Question Guidelines

1. Read the assignment carefully so that you are familiar with the materials that you need to cover and how to craft your post.
2. Respect each other’s ideas, feelings, and experience. Some of the questions involve areas of disagreement. Expect your classmates to have different opinions.
3. Use proper writing style. Correct spelling and sentence structure are expected just as if you were writing a regular paper. Use spell check and grammar check before you submit.
4. Write your posting in a word document! That way you can save a copy and use spell check and grammar check.
5. Cite the sources that you use to write your response. Follow the AMA guidelines.
6. Avoid posting large blocks of text. Break your writing into paragraphs and use a space between paragraphs to make your posting easier to read online.
7. Subscribe to the discussion so that you get email updates when there is activity.
8. Use the “reply” button rather than the “compose” button when responding to someone else’s post.
9. When responding to a classmate, address them by name.
10. Do not use postings such as “I agree,” “I don’t know either,” or “ditto.” They do not add to the discussion, take up space on the Discussions, and will not be counted.
11. Everyone benefits from an active discussion. Check back in frequently to see what others are saying.
12. Plan your time carefully. You will need to give your classmates time to respond to your postings. This is an asynchronous class where students will be in different points of the class.

Examination and Grading Information

Practice Proctored Exam

There is a highly recommended Practice Proctored Exam available to all students. The first attempt is free. This exam does not cover course material and is not included in your overall course grade. It prepares test takers for what the testing environment will be like, what forms of identification are needed, and provides a chance to test your external webcam with a live proctor. This is a great way to become familiar with and prepare for your exam!

Mid-Term and Final Exams

You must purchase the Official UNE External Webcam to take your proctored examinations. Remember to order your webcam at least three weeks prior to scheduling your first proctored exam.

For all exams, you must review the Proctored Examinations information and requirements in the Policies section of this syllabus.

There will be a 2.5 hour proctored midterm exam and a 3.5 hour proctored cumulative final exam. Exams begin and end promptly with scheduled times.  Be prepared to stay in the exam room for the entire time.  The exams are administered online via web proctoring – you will be required to follow all the proctor’s requests. These exams are closed for review. You will not be able to review these exams at any time. Please contact your instructor for specific feedback.

You may use:

1. A scientific calculator (NOT a graphing calculator)
2. A UNE Compliant whiteboard. You must show your proctor that the whiteboard is clear at the beginning of your testing session and you must erase your whiteboard in front of the proctor before disconnecting from your session. If you do not do this, your exam will not be credited.
3. Scratch Paper. You are permitted to use one blank piece of scrap paper during the exam. The paper may not exceed the standard 8.5 by 11 inches. The paper can be used on the front and back. At the end of the exam, the paper must be ripped up in front of the proctor prior to disconnecting.
4. The provided Equation Sheet (available in Brightspace) by opening it in front of your proctor just before you start your exam. It must be a digital copy; no printed copies are allowed.

Grading Policy

Your grade in this course will be determined by the following criteria:

Grade Breakdown

Homework	5%
Discussion Boards	10%
Weekly Quizzes	20%
Laboratory Component	20%
Midterm Exam	20%
Final Exam	25%

Grade Scale

Grade	Points Grade	Point Average (GPA)
A	94 – 100%	4.00
A-	90 – 93%	3.75
B+	87 – 89%	3.50
B	84 – 86%	3.00
B-	80 – 83%	2.75
C+	77 – 79%	2.50
C	74 – 76%	2.00
C-	70 – 73%	1.75
D	64 – 69%	1.00
F	00 – 63%	0.00